Technology
Technologies for Social Systems Design
The dawn of the 21st century has marked unprecedented paradigm shifts. On one hand the speed of technological change challenges societies to develop new scientific methodologies and technologies to tackle new complexities. On another hand, the world has become unstable in many regions, the Millennium Development Goals are by far behind, and sophisticated war industry is on the rise. While these developments are taking place, the systems of governance, especially at the level of governments, have not evolved and are lacking behind. Some consider them Paleolithic. In sum, the challenges we face are far too complex for any single human to tackle them alone. We came to realize that the methods and tools we have used in the past seem to be failing when applied on today's highly convoluted wicked problems. At N.E.T.S. students will be developing new theory and new tools to manage social complexity. We aspire to use these tools to achieve positive social change and promote non-violent conflict resolution and peace building worldwide.